I'm always fond of getting to know about scary places around the world, and today's post was suggested by a very dear friend of mine, and its story gave the chills like only good old horror stories can... But this one's real.
     This network of tunnels, known as the Odessa Catacombs, consists of three levels, which stretch out under the city and surrounding region of Odessa, Ukraine. The majority of the catacombs are the result of limestone mining and they reach a depth of 60 m below sea level, but the abandoned mines were also later used and widened by local smugglers.
    Today they are considered a great attraction for extreme tourists, who explore the tunnels despite the dangers involved. Such tours are not officially sanctioned because the catacombs have not been fully mapped and the tunnels themselves are unsafe. There have been incidents of people becoming lost in the tunnel network, and dying of dehydration or rockfalls.
     The most strange thing is that the approximate topography of this underground labyrinth is unknown. In fact, only one small portion of the catacombs is open to the public, within the "Museum of Partisan Glory" in Nerubayskoye, north of Odessa. Today there is an entire Ukrainian subculture of catacomb explorers with dozens of semiprofessional groups, often quite competitive, exploring the catacombs. They go on multi-day underground treks, known as expeditions, to document and map the system. Should someone get lost in the catacombs, (as happens every couple of years) these groups put aside their differences and mount large search expeditions. They have rescued a number of children who have wandered into the catacombs.
     Partisan weapon caches such as rifles and grenades are occasionally still found within the tunnels, and about once every five years a body is found. On rare occasions these bodies are almost perfectly mummified, freeze dried by the cold, dry air of the tunnels. While most of the time the bodies found are from long ago, bones of soldiers and smugglers, more recent accidents have been known to happen. And that's when the scary part comes in.
     On January 1st 2005, some Odessa teens decided to spend New Year's night partying in the catacombs. However, in the drunken revelry a member of the group, a girl named Masha, became separated and lost in the catacombs. She spent three days wandering in the freezing cold and pitch black before she died of dehydration. It took two years before the police were able to locate her body and retrieve it from the catacombs.

~Ally

     Tales of lost cities are capable of awakening our inner Indiana Jones, I think. So you can guess how excited I was when I first read about the submerged city in Lake Qiandao, in Chunan county, province of Zhejiang, east of China. With an equivalent size of 62 soccer fields, about 265 well preserved stone arches and many temples, ruins and cemeteries from the Han Dinasty, it sure is a hell of a feast for the eyes!
     This magnificent place was found in 2001 and became a huge tourist attraction for divers. No wonder! The city under water is over 1300 years old and was only submerged because of a hydroelectric barrier built by the communist government in the region in 1959. Damn those engineers! That caused more than 290 thousand habitants to move from the region, which was considered prosperous and commercial.

~Ally

     And there goes my fancy name-calling for dumb people. Turns out it seems that Neanderthals weren't the half-wits everyone assumed they were. And the reason for that is: they wore make up. Yup. I'm not kidding.
   British researchers discovered evidence in Spain that, about 50000 years ago, Neanderthals used sea shells to contain brightly-coloured pigments which were used as makeup containers and, thus, shows that they were capable of symbolic thinking. The shells and pigments were carefully examined and lumps of a yellow foundation-type pigment were found together with a red powder which had been mixed with a reflective black material. The research team also says this proves that it was not only modern humans who wore makeup for decoration and ritual purposes.
     According to Professor Joao Zilhao, from Bristol University, 'This is the first secure evidence that, some 50,000 years ago - ten millennia before modern humans are first recorded in Europe - the behaviour of Neanderthals was symbolically organised'. It is believed the brightly-coloured shells may have been worn by Neanderthals as jewellery or neck pendants for their makeup, too. Who knew, right?! Neanderthals wearing BLING! Ok, I'm done for today.

~Ally

     Back in the early 1920's, hundreds of Japanese women would dive in the seas of their country in search for oysters and pearls. They were capable of holding their breath for more than 2 minutes, and the search dives would happen for up to 60 times in a single day!
   These amazing womem were called Amas and were also known as mermaids, but the photo above and others by Iwase Yoshiyuki are now the only record of a mesmerizing profession that ended a couple of decades later. And, if you're thinking about breath-held diving (apnea diving) and all their equipment, forget it: these girls would use only a mask for the eyes and special slippers. But why diving naked? Well, diving suits didn't arrive to Japan until 1950 and cotton clothes would disturb the diving, besides being very unconfortable when wet and taking a long time to dry.
     A single Ama, working for some weeks collecting oysters and pearls, would earn more money than a common man working for a whole year. And men, by the way, wouldn't participate in this kind of search. They believed that the women's body was more appropriate to control breath and the low temperatures, since they contained more fat. Talk about chubby girl power!

~Ally

     Here in Brazil we often say and hear that St. Peter is responsible for controlling the weather, but I never quite understood why. So I decided to research a little bit!
     Turns out that this fame comes from the reports that St. Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the gatekeeper of Heaven - of which he is responsible for carrying the keys -, since he was the closest to Jesus. Thanks to that passage on the Bible, people began to associate Peter with heaven itself, in a "logic" more or less like this: "if he can open or close the doors and windows of heaven, than he is the one we should ask for rain or to cease the floodings".
     Remember that next time you forget your umbrella in a cloudy day!

~Ally

     I'm not a huge fan of macabre curiosities, but this case got my attention and it's probably going to cause me a fair share of nightmares.
     The number of people who are born with deformities every year isn't so small as we tend to think, and siamese twins aren't so uncommon either, but Mordrake's case was something remarkably unique. His anomaly had something more about it, which Mordrake himself described as "demonic".
     Mordrake was a man who had everything to be happy: he was an heir to an important English noble title (which he never claimed), a very talented musician and a brilliant gentleman. But, in the back of his head there was another face. And if you think it was always still, think again. It could laugh and cry, and sometimes whisper, which disturbed poor Edward deeply. Some reports claim that it was very unconfortable to look at the demonic face: people said that the eyes seemed to express inteligence and anger, and that they also followed them slowly, as if studying those who looked upon it. Others say that the face sometimes showed a sarcastic smile, as if it wanted to show an occult hate. It was almost impossible to observe it for long.
     The man suffered deeply with confinement and solitude, and said it was impossible to live with that "demon". He often asked doctors to take the second face away, but they refused, since Edward would die in the surgery. He ended up killing himself at 23 years old, but no one knows certainly how (some say it was poisoning, others say it was a bullet in the middle of the demonic face). In his suicide note, he asked that the second face should be removed from his head before he was put to rest. This final request was attended and he was buried in a cheap earth grave without any headstone or sculpture, also according to his wishes.

~Ally

     Pretend for a moment that you are a millionaire - or, if you are, consider your current financial situation. Now imagine you came across an advertisement to buy an island called Poveglia, in Italy. Sounds good, right? But what if I told you that that's the most haunted island in the world? Would you buy it anyway?
     True story, dear readers. Turns out that the island of Poveglia is actually for sale and it's claimed to be very very haunted. Although it is in one of the most popular tourism locations in the world, between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, Poveglia rarely sees any visitors. This now uninhabited 17-acre piece of dry land was used in the past as a dumping ground for plague dying victims. And, not so long ago, it was home to a mental hospital run by a cruel doctor who performed lobotomies on patients with crude tools like hand drills, chisels, and hammers. Oh, yeah, and he later threw himself from the hospital tower after claiming he'd been driven mad by ghosts. Iaiks. No wonder it is said to be haunted by tens of thousands of tortured spirits!
     The island has remained closed to visitors in recent years with access strictly restricted by the Italian government, but now they are offering this macabre location (sometimes described as "island of madness" and "hell") for sale in a bid to reduce the country’s  public debt.
     Given its fame, the island has become a draw for supernatural investigators searching for signs of the rumoured spirits, the most famous of which is a plague victim called Little Maria, who it is claimed stands crying looking out across the lagoon towards her home.
     So far, it seems that the main plan for the decrepit building is to transform it into a luxury hotel, though a group of architects and planners have launched a campaign to buy the island in a bid to stop the further privatisation of the lagoon.

~Ally

      After reading about Blenda's legend yesterday, I got carried away and decided to read about another heroine from the past I had never heard or read about before, and the chosen one was Agustina de Aragón. What most impressed me regarding her story, though, is that she was 100% real!
     Agustina Raimunda María Saragossa Domènech, or Agustina of Aragón (March 4, 1786 – May 29, 1857) was a Spanish heroine who defended Spain during the Spanish War of Independence, first as a civilian and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Army. Known as "the Spanish Joan of Arc," she has been the subject of much folklore, mythology, and artwork, including sketches by Francisco de Goya and even the poetry of Lord Byron!
     In the summer of 1808, Zaragoza was one of the last cities in northern Spain not to have fallen to the forces of Napoleon and was therefore, by the time of the siege, choked with vast numbers of refugees fleeing the advancing Grande Armée. In early June, the French began to advance on Zaragoza, which had not seen war for about 450 years and was held by a tiny provincial force under José de Palafox, whose heroism would come to rival Agustina's.
     The Duke of Saragossa by Goya On June 15, 1808, the French army stormed the Portillo, an ancient gateway into the city defended by a hodgepodge battery of old cannons and a heavily outnumbered volunteer unit. Agustina, arriving on the ramparts with a basket of apples to feed the gunners, watched the nearby defenders fall to French bayonets. The Spanish troops broke ranks, having suffered heavy casualties, and abandoned their posts. With the French troops a few yards away, Agustina herself ran forward, loaded a cannon, and lit the fuse, shredding a wave of attackers at point blank range.
     The sight of a lone woman bravely manning the cannons inspired the fleeing Spanish troops and other volunteers to return and assist her. After a bloody struggle, the French gave up the assault on Zaragosa and abandoned their siege for a few short weeks before returning to fight their way into the city, house-by-house. With the human cost proving truly terrible on both sides and the city's defences hopelessly compromised, Palafox finally accepted the inevitable and was forced to surrender the city to the French. Despite the eventual defeat, Agustina's action became an inspiration to those opposing the French and, in a latter day, to many feminists.
     Original records on Agustina suggest that she was not fervently patriotic or pious, but an ordinary girl motivated by war. In the mores of the time, a woman who took on "manly" duties posed a problem. However, as the French-imprisoned King of Spain was considered anointed of God, the Church declared it the duty of every Spaniard to take up arms against his captors.
     Various places claim to be Agustina's birthplace. Most biographies suggest that she was born in Reus, in Tarragona, in 1786. At an early age, her family moved to Madrid. To the annoyance of the Spanish, she showed an independence of mind from an early age and records indicate that she was a persistent nuisance, hanging around the Army barracks at the age of 13.
     Although popular history records that she married for love at the age of 16, the age of her son at his death is disputed, suggesting that she might already have been pregnant at the time of her marriage to an artillery gunner by the name of Joan Roca Vila-Seca. The name of her firstborn child does not appear in the popular record, though a gravestone indicates his name was Eugenio. Although her husband was in the army as the Peninsular War was breaking out, she abruptly left him to return to the home of her sister in Zaragoza.
     The image of Agustina as the saviour of Zaragoza has, however, also overshadowed her later actions. After being captured, she was imprisoned and saw Eugenio die at the hands of her French guards. She subsequently mounted a daring escape and became a low-level rebel leader for the guerrilleros, helping to organise raids and attacks that harassed the French. As the strategic situation deteriorated for the French Army, her role became increasingly orthodox as supplies and training were covertly provided by the Duke of Wellington.
     Agustina began to fight for the allied forces as Wellington's only female officer and ultimately rose to the rank of Captain. On June 21, 1813, she acted as a front line battery commander at the Battle of Vitoria under the command of Major Cairncross, who reported directly to Wellington himself. This battle was to see the French Army that had occupied Spain effectively smashed beyond repair and driven out of Spain.
     After the war, she married a doctor and, late in life, she became a familiar sight in Zaragoza as a respectable old lady, wearing medals, who used to go for walks around the Portillo. Agustina de Aragón died at the age of 71 in Ceuta. Until 1870 her remains lay in the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar until 14 June 1908 when she was moved to the Chapel of the Annunciation in the Church of Our Lady (Nuestra Señora del Portillo).

~Ally

     Thanks to the unbelievable heat that seems to be always present in the town I live, I always wonder if I should buy myself a hand fan or not. After I discovered that it was used as a sort of a secret language in the 18th century, however, things got a little more interesting! So, as I know you're probably wondering which sign meant what in those days, here is a quick list!
    As most of us know, in that period the hand fan was both utilitarian as well as decorative. There were many kinds of fans, from the extremely plain paddle fans made from paper or wood, to the most ornate made of the finest silk and adorned with fine embroidery or painting. A lady was never seen in public without her fan, for it was not only used as a device for cooling oneself, but also as a means of discrete and quiet communication, as I said. What is most interesting (and romantic!) about it, though, is that both men and women understood the "language of the fan" and used it to communicate some very private sentiments while in the midst of some very public places.
     Some of the most commonly understood fan gestures were:

• A fan placed near the heart: "You have won my love."
• A closed fan touching the right eye: "When may I be allowed to see you?"
  

• The number of sticks shown answered the question: "At what hour?"

• Threatening gestures with a closed fan: "Do not be so imprudent"

• Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: "You may kiss me."

• Hands clasped together holding an open fan: "Forgive me."

• Covering the left ear with an open fan: "Do not betray our secret."

• Hiding the eyes behind an open fan: "I love you."

• Shutting a fully-opened fan slowly: "I promise to marry you."

• Drawing the fan across the eyes: "I am sorry."

• Touching the finger to the tip of the fan: "I wish to speak with you."

• Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: "Yes."

• Letting the fan rest on the left cheek: "No."

• Opening and closing the fan several times: "You are cruel"

• Dropping the fan: "We will be friends."

• Fanning slowly: "I am married."

• Fanning quickly: "I am engaged."

• Putting the fan handle to the lips: "Kiss me."

• Opening a fan wide: "Wait for me."

• Placing the fan behind the head: "Do not forget me"

• Placing the fan behind the head with finger extended: "Goodbye."

• Fan in right hand in front of face: "Follow me."

• Fan in left hand in front of face: "I am desirous of your acquaintance."

• Fan held over left ear: "I wish to get rid of you."

• Drawing the fan across the forehead: "You have changed."

• Twirling the fan in the left hand: "We are being watched."

• Twirling the fan in the right hand: "I love another."

• Carrying the open fan in the right hand: "You are too willing."

• Carrying the open fan in the left hand: "Come and talk to me."

• Drawing the fan through the hand: "I hate you!"

• Drawing the fan across the cheek: "I love you!"

• Presenting the fan shut: "Do you love me?"

     Now excuse me while I get a fan and become the weird girl with the fan in the next party.

~Ally

     A mummy of an Egyptian woman dating back to 700 A.D. has been recently scanned and revealed a tattoo on her thigh that displays the name of the biblical archangel Michael! The discovery, announced by researchers at the British Museum, was made during a research project that used advanced medical scans, including Computed Tomography (CT) images, to examine Egyptian mummies at a number of hospitals in the United Kingdom last year.
    The woman’s body was wrapped in a woolen and linen cloth before burial, and her remains were mummified in the desert heat. As deciphered by curators, the tattoo on her thigh, written in ancient Greek, reads Μιχαήλ, transliterated as M-I-X-A-H-A, or Michael. Curators at the museum speculate that the tattoo was a symbol worn for religious and spiritual protection, though they declined to offer additional details.
    According to the researchers, “like Greeks and Romans across the Mediterranean, the portion of the population that was literate was fascinated by the shapes of letters and delighted in making designs with letters in names. Hence, we have the odd shape of the tattoo composed of the letters.”
    Placing the name of a powerful heavenly protector on one's body by a tattoo or amulet was very common in antiquity, they said. “Christian women who were pregnant often placed amulets with divine or angelic names on bands on their abdomens to insure a safe delivery of their child”. The researchers also claim that “placing the name on the inner thigh, as with this mummy, may have had some meaning for the hopes of childbirth or protection against sexual violation, as in ‘This body is claimed and protected.’ Michael is an obvious identity for a tattoo, as this is the most powerful of angels.”

~Ally